It was as natural as apple pie and ice cream to put two country-picking guitar legends like Merle Travis and Joe Maphis, buddies since they’d first met in 1942, in the recording studio at the same time. The results find these fretboard wizards blazing their way through a highprofile 1963 set of backwoods chestnuts, including dazzling material from the Carter Family, Bill Monroe, the Delmore Brothers and Chet Atkins, not to mention a handful of traditional faves like “Big Midnight Special” and “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down.” The exhilarating pairing of Travis and Maphis never sounded better—absolute fingers on fire!